THOMAS RYAN PPRHA (1929-2021) – Silver Cup and Pink Rose. UPDATE: THIS LOT ATTRACTED 49 BIDS AND MADE 5,800 AT HAMMER OVER A TOP ESTIMATE OF 1,200.
This oil on board by Thomas Ryan is lot 49 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online sale of Irish art which runs until August 2. Silver Cup and Pink Rose, measuring just 5.9′ x 7.9′ was exhibited at the Lee Gallery in Cork in 2004 and is estimated at €800-€1,200. The artist attended the Limerick School of Art, then the National College of Art in Dublin, where he studied under Seán Keating and Maurice MacGonigal. He first exhibited at the RHA in 1957, became an associate member in 1968, was elected President of the RHA in 1982 and served until 1992.
His many commissions for portraits included Presidents, Taoisigh, cardinals and archbishops, provosts and University Presidents. He was known for his sensitive still-life and genre paintings and for Irish historical scenes, especially those of the 1916 Rising.
The catalogue is online and the sale will be on view in Skibbereen, west Cork from July 28.
Victorian Irish pitch pine bar counter and back. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This rare Victorian Irish pitch pine bar counter with mirrored bar back surmounted with reverse painted glass panels and carved with shamrocks comes up at Victor Mee’s sale on July 26-27. The two day auction of pub memorabilia, collectibles and decorative advertising features 728 lots. The bar here, lot 161, is at €4,000-€8,000 one of the most expensively estimated pieces but this is a sale with something to suit all budgets. The decorative interiors sale planned by Victor Mee for this week had to be postponed until August 9 and 10 due to a case of covid.
An auction dedication to art, editions and photographs by David Hockney will take place at Phillips in London on September 13. Robert Kennan, Head of Editions, Europe, said, “This sale looks to celebrate the achievements of David Hockney to date with a vibrant selection in all media. The auction is an opportunity to acquire a Hockney work at all price points, from entry level works priced at £1000 to those higher value pieces at £250,000 and above. Contemporary edition collecting is something we feel incredibly passionate about and creating curated sales such as David Hockney allows us to engage with our community of collectors, whilst reflecting our innovative approach to meet current collecting demands.”
Three highlights of the sale, Tyler Dining Room, Celia in a Wicker Chair, and arguably Hockney’s most sought after edition, Afternoon Swimming, come from prominent South African collectors Andrew and Sandy Ovenstone, owners of Stellenberg, Cape Town. This historic house is the last remaining private Cape Dutch homestead in the central southern suburbs of Cape Town and home to world-renowned gardens overseen by Sandy Ovenstone. Proceeds from the will help to fund new acquisitions by contemporary South African artists. Afternoon Swimming from 1979 will leads the auction. Viewing is from September 6-13 at 30 Berkeley Square.
Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen – Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture in Minneapolis
Claes Oldenburg, the Swedish born New York based sculptor, has died aged 93. His death was announced by Pace Gallery, which represented him. Renowned for his sculptures, drawings, and colossal public monuments that transform familiar, everyday objects into animated entities, Oldenburg was a leading voice of the Pop Art movement who, over the course of more than six decades, redefined the history of art. Together with his wife and longtime collaborator Coosje van Bruggen (who died in 2009), Oldenburg realised over 40 large-scale public projects around the world. Oldenburg and Pace Founder and Chairman Arne Glimcher maintained a friendship for 60 years, working closely since the early years of the artist’s career.
Monumental sculptures have been installed across the United States, Europe, and Asia at Rincon Park in San Francisco, Piazzale Cadorna in Milan, Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul, and many other sites. Oldenburg and van Bruggen’s large-scale sculpture Spoonbridge and Cherry (1985-88) at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis has become a symbol of the city.
MARILYN MONROE: “THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS” FILM-WORN ENSEMBLE (WITH BOOK AND PHOTOS)
A figure-hugging embellished gown worn by Marilyn Monroe in her 1954 classic film There’s No Business Like Show Business enchanted collectors and fans of the screen goddess as the dress designed by William Travilla was the top-seller at Julien’s Auctions Hollywood Legends sale this weekend. It made $218,750 over an estimate of $80,000-$100,000. A pair of sequin embellished leotard costumes screen-worn by Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in their 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes made $102,400. Among other top lots were Chris Evans’ Captain America original hero prop “Vibranium” shield used in The Avengers which made $200,000; an original Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope stormtrooper helmet made $192,000 and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets “Nimbus 2001” broomstick made $76,800.
Abstract Landscape by Maurice Desmond UPDATE: THIS MADE 750 AT HAMMER
Viewers can lose themselves in the work of the Cork based artist Maurice Desmond, who sadly left us on June 30. Just look and keep on looking and it is surprising what you can find. When Maurice was on song a five minute visit to his studio could last an entire afternoon without ever knowing or even noticing where the time had gone. The first painting by the artist to come up at auction since his unexpected death is an abstract landscape once in the collection of the late Jim O’Driscoll SC. Lot 114 at Whyte’s summer online art auction, which runs until the evening of July 25, is an oil on board estimated at just €500-€700.
This is an auction of affordable art by well known Irish artists designed to attract new collectors without breaking the bank. According to Whyte’s there has never been a better time to dive in and immerse yourself. Among the artists represented are Kenneth Webb, Henry Healy, Gwen O’Dowd, John Morris, Rose Ganly, Stephen Cullen, Cecily Brennan, Colin Gibson, Desmond Carrick, Patricia Jorgensen, John Skelton, Maurice MacGonigal, Muriel Brandt, Liam Treacy, Pauline Bewick, Hughie O’Donoghue, Dorothy Cross, Felim Egan, Stella Steyn and William Orpen. Viewing gets underway next Wednesday on Molesworth St. and the catalogue is online.
Rembrandt van Rijn – Self-portrait with beret, wide eyed 1630 (etching) Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Rich pickings for art lovers at summer exhibitions in Dublin range from remarkable drawings on loan from the Rijksmuseum at the National Gallery of Ireland to an artistic examination of the science fiction of the present at IMMA. Intimate insights into 17th century life in the Netherlands can be seen at Dutch Drawings: highlights from the Rijksmuseum which opens at the National Gallery today. This rare loan exhibition selected from the world renowned collection in Amsterdam offers 48 works by 31 different artists. Among them are Rembrandt, Hendrick Avercamp, Nicolaes Berchem, Jacob van Ruisdael, Gerard ter Boch, Ferdinand Bol and Albert Cuyp.
This show offers Irish audiences a unique opportunity to view at close quarters works which range from studies of plants and animals, daily life, portraits, architecture and landscape. This art conveys a strong sense of what life as it was lived then was like. Drawing was a portable and inexpensive medium. There are differing techniques with works in graphite, ink, watercolour, chalks, etchings and woodcuts plus a small number of prints by Rembrandt. The exhibition shows artists striving to understand the world around them. It continues at the National Gallery runs until November 6.
Aelbert Cuyp – View of Dordrecht c1650. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
The exhibition at IMMA is concerned with insights by artists into the world as we know it now. On show here is a cross section of works produced between 2022 and 2018 by The Otolith Group, a London based collective founded in 2002 by Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun. Otoliths are bodies in the inner ear involved with sensing gravity and movement. These pioneering artworks utilising film, video and multi-screen installations address contemporary, social and planetary issues, the disruptions of neo-colonialism, the way in which humans have impacted the earth and the influence of new technology on consciousness. The exhibition is entitled Xenogenesis (the production of an organism unlike the parent) and it reflects the commitment by the artists to creating what they think of as ‘a science fiction of the present’ through images, voices, sounds and performance. Themes are both universal and relevant to contemporary life. IMMA director and curator of the exhibition Annie Fletcher said: “The Otolith Group’s films and installations address the forces and events that have shaped our world while offering inspiring examples and models of how we might collectively imagine a different future”.
A series of unpublished handwritten poems by Ted Hughes, written the in aftermath of the suicide of his partner Assia Wevill and their daughter Shura in 1969 – just six years after the suicide of his first wife Sylvia Plath – come up at Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern sale open for bidding until July 19. Estimated at £10,000- 15,000 they offer an insight into the overwhelming grief and loss that Hughes experienced. Wevill and Hughes began an affair in 1962 and this was one of the causes of the breakdown of his marriage to the American poet Sylvia Plath in the summer of that year. Following Plath’s suicide their relationship continued but was plagued with troubles, from money to Hughes’ lack of commitment. Wevill suffered from depression and in a terrible parallel with Plath’s death, gassed herself in her London flat in March 1969. The four pages of verse are written – sometimes illegibly – in ink, and are clearly early drafts, unintended for publication. Their fragmentary and incomplete structure suggests that Hughes found the subject too painful and abandoned the works. They are extensively revised and the beginning and endings of the poems are not always clear.
The sale includes an inscribed copy of Plath’s first collection, The Colossus and Other Poems (£20,000- 30,000) gven by Plath to her husband and childhood items of Plath’s from a lock of hair as a toddler to her stamp collection.
UPDATE: THE unpublished manuscript poems made £12,600, The Colossus and Other Poems by Sylvia Plath made £94,500.
JOHN LE CARRE – THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD MADE £35,260
There were records for first editions by John le Carré, Hilary Mantel, David Mitchell, Tom Stoppard, Alan Bennett and Salman Rushdie at Christie’s online sale of First Editions, Second Thoughts: An Auction in support of English PEN which ran from June 28 – July 12. The sale of 89 lots brought in £515,844, more than double the low estimate. Each work was personally annotated by the artist or author to include their insights, recollections, thoughts or illustrations, creating a unique and covetable collector’s item. The proceeds raised from the sale will fund English PEN’s work to defend free expression and campaign for writers who are at risk.
Among the highlights were: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. London: Victor Gollancz, 1963 (Estimate £8,000 – 12,000), realised £35,280; Hilary Mantel (b. 1952), Bring Up the Bodies. London: Fourth Estate, 2012. (Estimate £4,000 – 6,000), realised £30,240; David Mitchell (b.1969),Cloud Atlas. London: Sceptre, 2004(Estimate £4,000 – 6,000), realised £27,720; Tom Stoppard (b.1937),Leopoldstadt. London: Faber and Faber, 2020 (Estimate £2,000 – 3,000), realised £21,420; Alan Bennett (b.1934), The History Boys. London: Faber and Faber, 2004. (Estimate £4,000 – 6,000), realised £17,640; Thomas Keneally (b.1935), Schindler’s List. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982. (Estimate £3,000 – 5,000), realised £16,380; Quentin Blake (b.1932, illustrator), – Roald Dahl (1916–1990). The BFG. London: Jonathan Cape, 1982 (Estimate £6,000 – 9,000), realised £13,860; Salman Rushdie, (b.1947), Midnight’s Children. London: Jonathan Cape, 1981. (Estimate £4,000 – 6,000), realised £11,970; Margaret Atwood (b.1939), The Handmaid’s Tale. London: Jonathan Cape, 1986. (Estimate £4,000 – 6,000), realised £11,340.
English PEN is one of the world’s oldest human rights organisations which champions the freedom to write and the freedom to read around the world, and is the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers’ association with 145 centres in more than 100 countries.
Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, painted in 1964, made a record $195 million at Christie’s.
Global sales at Christie’s in the first half of 2022 reached $4.1 billion, made up from $3.5 billion in auction sales and $0.6 billion in private sales. This is the best performance since 2015 and even surpasses the first half year of 2018 when Christie’s sold the Rockefeller Collection. Andy Warhol’s Short Sage Blue Marilyn was the most valuable lot sold, at $195 million. There was remarkable results for major collections like those of Thomas and Doris Ammann, Anne H. Bass, Rosalind Gersten Jacobs and Melvin Jacobs and Hubert de Givenchy. The sell through rate across all auctions was 87%. A strong influx of new and younger clients was noted. In the half year so far 30% of all buyers are new to Christie’s, and 34% of these new buyers are millennials.
Philanthropic sales raised nearly $440 million with $13.7 million in aid to Ukraine. The outlook for the autumn is good, led by the Ann and Gordon Getty Collection in New York.
